Boston Cream Latte

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 Cup Pastry Cream
    • 1 Shot Espresso
    • 2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
    • 1/2 Cup Whole Milk

    Instructions

    1. Add half of the pastry cream to the milk and whisk.
    2. Pull your espresso and mix in the coco powder. Pour into a mug.
    3. Meanwhile steam the milk-pastry cream mixture and then add it to the espresso. Stir to darken the top of the mug.
    4. Pipe the pastry cream onto the top of the mug in a spiral and then make the iconic design by running a toothpick to and from the center of the cup all around the top of the coffee.

    Notes

    At work I make lattes all the time and i’ve gotten pretty good at it. One of my first jobs ever was actually at a coffee shop that was WAY ahead if it’s time and I have carried over many of the coffee fundamentals from that job into all coffee making aspects of my life. The other day I thought that pastry cream would go perfectly with a nice strong coffee, so I wanted to put it into action with a latte recipe. I realized that if you added pastry cream to a mocha, you would have all the flavors of a perfect boston cream


    So step one is to make the pastry cream. This step is creaming the sugar with the egg yolks. Make sure you really whisk well until it makes ribbons like this.

    Hot milk goes in next, then you cook it until it thickens a bit. Refrigerate overnight.

    The pastry cream was a little thick but too thick is much better than too thin! Just whisk in milk little by little until it is the right texture. It looks lumpy and weird here, but it is actually really smooth and creamy.

    See!

    I added a little of the pastry cream to the milk before steaming it.

    Espresso with cocoa powder goes in the cup first.

    Then the steamed milk with pastry cream added.

    Oh hey latte art, no big deal. If you follow me on twitter or instagram then you know I have been getting better and better at making latte art.  But you actually don’t want the latte art for this drink specifically because you want the surface to be as dark as it can be. This picture is just me trying to look cool.

    Swirl that pastry cream on top.

    Then do the iconic boston cream design by moving a toothpick to the center and then back out to the edge all around the cup.

    Oh man this drink was so good.

    I don’t like overly sweet coffee drinks and this one walked the line with just enough sweetness. And I normally don’t put ANY sugar in my coffee.  Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, I don’t mind if you sell this in fact I would be honored. Put this on your menu next year!